Team EAGL
by WyvernRider3
Summary: Eleanor, a fighter; Alexander, a hunter; Grant, a merc; and Leon, a defender. These four were seen by the talent collector, Professor Ozpin, during a deed of combat prowess worthy of a Hunter. They are not conventional people, but then, why ever would they want to be?
1. Chapter 1

EAGL

**Red-Eleonor.**

The redhead knew that she would not win, how would she when she was to go against the great and mighty Pyrrha Nikos. That did not mean she would not put up a fight not when the sponsorship to Beacon academy was in the air.

It was her dream, ever since his father was killed by a roaming pack of Beowolves, to join the fight against the creatures of Grimm, and if she had to fight her way through thousands of hurdles, then she would, without hesitation.

This one was no exception, and so, she ran towards her foe

Her axe sliced the air, only to meet the shield the Amazon warrior carried, the shotgun shell did nothing to help her, as the opponent shoved the weapon away a few moments before the shot.

Her second axe did not help either, blocked by Pyrrha's own weapon, and shoved away again before shooting started.

She flew through the air, the shield the Amazon wielded having smashed against her, but she managed to stop herself before reaching the edge of the platform, a certain disqualification, and tried to block the swing by her opponent.

It was useless, the strength of Pyrrha was greater than hers, and she was unceremoniously pushed out of the platform.

"WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH OF THE THIRD ROUND, PYRRHA NIKOS."

So that was it huh, she could only hope that the headmaster of the academy would see talent in her, enough that it would drive him to offer her a place in the student body.

"How much do you want to be a huntress?"

And just then she knew, that she had made it in.

**Black-Alexander.**

The faunus had to dodge the feathers of the Nevermore, after all, one single prick could turn into an infection that could kill him.

He was an eagle faunus, a really rare breed, as most tended to stay within the mammal realm.

He was special, and he knew it, but he was also less than his ancestors were, less human on one side of the family, less faunus on the other.

Once upon a time, his father's family had been one with the birds in the sky, their bones just like a bird's, their muscles just as strong, and their lungs just as capable. Now the only thing that allowed them to fly was their wingspan and a very strong air semblance, the two trademarks of their family, the two genes that remained undiluted.

He took out his carbine, shooting straight into the screeching mouth of the Nevermore, making it bleed a fair amount from the mouth, but not enough to kill it. Which was why he was going to stab it through the brain.

The Grimm was not expecting this, and reacted too late to snap at the faunus, too late to save itself the sensation of a blade running through it's mouth and into it's skull. Great, he would have to clean the carbine when he got home, and here he was thinking that perhaps he would get a nice, relaxing day.

"Impressive, I don't think I've ever seen a man take down a Nevermore like that," A voice greeted his landing, "Then again, I don't think bird faunus are common, do you?"

**Blue-Grant.**

His sniper rifle went off, taking down a member of the White Fang with it.

"How many more of them are there?" he heard one of his squad mates ask. He did not answer.

He was protecting a cargo of dust from a small time company, his contract stated that he would either make sure the cargo arrived complete or he would receive no payment. He was not really eager to try and see whether that was true or not.

He was the epitome of a long ranged fighter, with a 20-20 vision that only faunus could best, and reflexes that rivalled even those possessed by feline faunus. It showed right now. Spitting bullets at a rate that few snipers could hope to match, every shot he took brought down one target, and if he was down there on the front-line, his spear would be smeared with blood.

He was not, however, one to look at the corpses he left behind, so fighting down there would leave him not only bloody, but with a very bitter taste in his mouth.

"That's the last of them!" he sighed and holstered his sniper, jumping from the roof as he did so.

"They're getting bolder," He commented, kicking over a body to see what had taken him down, "Soon stunners won't be enough"

"Hey, don't touch them, the less injury they have, the lighter the police are going to go on us."

So they set off again, and reached the warehouse where the cargo was to be dropped off.

"Interesting concept weapon, I don't think I've seen a sniper combined with a spear before, normally high recoil weapons like that are combined with scythes."

"Where's the boss man?" he asked, ignoring the statement about his weapon.

"In his office, but tell me, how would you like to join my school?"

**Brown-Leon**

His life was simple. Wake up in the morning, bring the chicken of the day, kill some of the Grimm that decided that his village was a good place to spend the night and the the inhabitants would make good food, take all the bones, sell the meat, refine his armor, and go back to his family in time for tea. Then he would have a fist fight with some idiot that started hitting on his sister, and go to the local clinic to get the pain medicine to make it through the night.

It was a routine, a boring one, but it kept everyone alive.

Now if only he could convince his parents to let him join a Huntsman academy. Don't get him wrong, it was nice living in a small village, where he was friendly with everyone except those that tried to hit on his sister, but his sister was starting to kick ass on her own, and would probably be joining in the daily hunt for Grimm.

He sat down to clean his weapon, a masterpiece, if he was allowed to say it himself.

A three barrelled SMG with a rotation system between them that fired fire natured dust at an incredible rate, with a raw damage output that could knock out an Ursa Mayor with only one clip, and could just as easily transform into a bladed tonfa, to deliver devastatingly hard blows to whoever he fought.

It was enhanced by his aura, of course. His semblance, combustion, made the weapon have a very high chance of explosions whenever he hit something, and his free hand was always ready to deliver another explosive punch to finish a battle.

"Ah, son, come here, professor Ozpin was telling me about his school, I suppose you are now old enough to join it"

And just like that, he could say from the bottom of his heart, that he loved his parents.


	2. Chapter 2

***Beacon Airship***

Eleanor Burandt considered herself to be a strong woman. How could she not, when she had won many regional tournaments, sometimes beating even rookie Hunters during those same tournaments. Yet there always came the battle in the nationals, the battle that no matter how much she tried, she could never win.

The fight against a person born to fight.

She was fast, they were faster. She was strong, and they were stronger. She was clever, and they out witted her.

She hated that, she could not stand that even after ten years, she could not once made it to even the semi finals, always beaten a round or two before that. It was her drive, to one day beat the best of the best, and stand unchallenged.

Too bad she had little control of her semblance.

It wasn't really her fault, all things considered. Her town was one where few Grimm were ever spotted, so hunters rarely ever came from there, and most people who learned how to use it properly were the ones that dedicated themselves to medicine, those that had the adaptive healer's aura.

Her semblance was kinetics.

By taking in forces that hit her, from the constant energy from the wind, to the explosive force in punches and kicks, she could make her own attacks pack more punch, at the cost of stored energy. Her axes had been made with that purpose in mind, taking the backlash of whatever hits she landed and giving it to her as raw power.

She had not figured out the whole release thing yet.

Sometimes it worked exactly as she intended it to, knocking teeth loose and breaking bones, and sometimes all she did was absorb more energy when she wanted to release it. This would not be a trouble if the force did not release itself at the most random moments, like for example, when she was cleaning her room, or when she was cooking, or when she had nightmares.

She had broken a lot of beds.

She sighed.

It would have helped if she unlocked her aura earlier in life, back when she was bullied for her red hair, or her thinness, or her height, and later on for her early, and short, development.

A boy flew by her, smacking the railing with his legs.

"Hey there," the boy said, "would you mind pulling me up? I'm afraid my wings may not be up to the task"

She just stared at the legs.

"Hey, not that I don't like the view, Vale is beautiful from here, but really, I don't think my legs will make it without circulation."

"Right, sorry" She pulled him up, noticing the wings on his back, "are they okay?"

"These things?" his right one looked swollen, she thought, "Yeah, I'll have to keep it folded for a while."

The boy was pretty much average, if you ignored the wings. Black hair, brown eyes, one meter seventy something, with visible muscle yet very thin. The wings were strikingly beautiful though, the blackness just drew the eye, made you admire them.

"Why were you flying through the ship, anyway?"

A navy blue themed boy came walking up to them, a raging look on his face, "If you call me shorty again, those pretty things of you won't be back in action, ever."

This boy was no taller than a meter fifty five, a contrast to her height and the winged boy's. This one looked like he tried not to wake up in the morning with everything he had and failed, with sunken green eyes and a dishevelled mop of brown hair.

"All I said was that..." At the scowl of the second boy he put his hands up, and Eleanor could not help but think that he was just doing it because he was already injured, "Alright, I get it, height is a sensitive issue and I should not mention it to you, ever."

"That better be the truth," and so he walked off.

That boy could really use an attitude adjustment, she thought, who would threaten someone with bodily harm just because they mentioned a height issue.

"That's the thing with the vertically challenged, you see," she looked at the winged boy to see him smirking, oh god, "They don't like to be reminded that they are closer to hell than us"

God dammit, "You really shouldn't be making enemies right now, we haven't even gotten to Beacon"

"Meh, I would have gotten in trouble for making an unappropriated comment in front of a teacher anyway," he just kept getting better and better, "Anyway, the name's Alexander Jagger, thanks for pulling me before I lost feeling in my head."

"Eleonor Burandt, and you're welcome, I guess" Could anyone blame her for being hesitant, when she had just witnessed that he had a knack for finding soft spots, "What...uh... what weapon do you use?"

The boy grinned, and she realized she had asked just the right question, "This is Piercing Orion," He showed off his carbine, the black design as sleek as his wings, the blades looking every bit as deadly as a Death Stalker, "The blade is made black steel, reinforced with Grimm bone dust for extra toughness, the rifle mode," Here he pushed back the blade on the bottom, showing the ammo clip, "has a rate of fire of six bullets per second, ricochet, and can break through the mask of an Ursa."

"That is impressive," the boy smiled and holstered the rifle, "I use Ebony and Ivory," and so it was her turn to show off, "Double sided axes, great in combat for me," The blades looked heavy, but she knew that they were light, and perfect for quick and cutting attacks, and with a blade as red as her auburn hair, "And by twisting the blades I get a sawed off shotgun, though it's great for adding a punch to my slashes."

"We'll have to fight sometime," the boy commented, but soon turned to stare out the window, "I wish I could be out there."

Huh, "Can you fly?" well, he did have wings, so it wouldn't be entirely out of the question.

"If my wing wasn't bruised and there was enough air, then yes, I could," he answered, looking thoughtfully at his wings, "I don't suppose you can heal bruising."

"No, sorry," the boy sighed, "It's because of my semblance, I would probably do more harm than good," The boy tilted his head, making her sigh, "My dad unlocked it half a year ago, I can't really control it yet."

"Meh, few people do without a teacher, a year after I got mine I could barely lift myself a foot with my semblance," he gave her a pat on the back and started walking towards the entryway, "Give yourself time and practice, you'll get it"

She really hoped he was right.

***Leon***

He was jumping with excitement, it was not an exaggeration.

Some people had approached him, only to find his excitement more than a little bit off putting, as he rambled a lot and tended not to let the person in front of him get a word in, leading to him jumping alone in excitement.

This was how Eleanor saw him, and unlike many, she decided to let him be, a wise decision, to be sure, as she wasn't sure she could stand the constant stream of words she had heard from him. But hey, at least he wasn't motion sick.

The boy was one of the first to disembark when the airship landed in front of Beacon academy, and one of the last to enter it, as he was moderately occupied with staring at the impressive structure that was the academy building.

"Hey, we need to listen to welcoming speech, remember?" she popped his bubble before he could miss the speech, "Come on, I want a good place."

He started following her at a quick pace, a giant grin plastered on his face, "Thanks for reminding me, it's just..." he's a maniac, she thought as he let off an excited giggle, "I can't believe I'm in Beacon."

"Uhu, eh, what was your name again?" It couldn't hurt to be polite, she thought, he may end up on her team, though hopefully not.

"Leon, Leon Kaynor," the name was normal enough, for a guy that looked as he spent all his time in the dirt, with camouflaged shirt and cargo pants and buzzed cut brown hair, "Would you believe me if I told you I've been trying to get in for three years."

"I would," she said slowly, as if to a small and excitable child, "They do only accept seventeen years and older"

"But there was this kid on the plane by the hot blonde," she hit him over the head, "By the blonde woman," better, she thought, "How did she get in then?"

"Probably has someone that crowbarred her in," the same brown haired kid waited until they caught up to him, "The director of this school likes to have talent in it, and if she is talented enough to impress him at fifteen, then she has earned a place in the student body."

"Wow, are you sure," Once again the buzz cut head got a slap, this one trying to communicate a sensitive topic, "Are you sure that's how she got in?"

"Yes, Beacon doesn't let people younger than seventeen in, not even children of teachers," the shorty, damn, it was hard not to think of him like that, looked at her, "I am sorry for how I acted in the ship, I am Grant Sherman, ex-mercenary"

"Eleanor Burandt," She nodded at him, "If you don't mind me asking..."

"Nineteen, twenty in two months, I was a merc for two years."

They were already in the assembly hall, and she noticed that the winged boy, Alexander, she reminded herself, was waving them over with one wing and one arm. She went up to him the other two following her, Grant more reluctantly than Leon. She hoped that he remembered the threat well enough not to get one of those permanently injured.

They all settled together, noticing the blond and her little sister, were they really? Very little resemblance, she thought, being reunited. Professor Ozpin came into the stage.

"I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate yourselves to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume that knowledge will rid you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you, to take the first step."

And he took a long drink of his cup, walking off the stage as he did so.

"You will spend the night here, tomorrow you will start at ten am," And Goodwitch walked off as well.


	3. Chapter 3

***Beacon academy mess hall***

The redhead could not help but feel self conscious during the night, something understandable when most of the guys present could not decide whether to stare at her, at the guy that didn't give a shit about sporting wings, at the girl that looked like she wanted to flirt with everyone, and at Pyrrha Nikos.

Some of the students had already gone to sleep, the guy dressed in green and his hyper friend, for one, a big muscled guy, Alexander as well as Grant had already gone down. There were some that seemed like they would not go to sleep during the night, the girl with the black bow, for example, and some guy that looked like he had come out of a punk band.

"Just relax, no point on stressing over what will happen tomorrow," Leon, who had decided to stay by her, said, "Take a deep breath, and sleep"

"Let's see you do it," She mumbled under her breath, managing to do it quiet enough so that he wouldn't hear it.

Nonetheless she lay down on her mat and tried to sleep for a good thirty minutes, only glare at the ceiling when she realized that it would not come yet, and scowling when she realized that Leon HAD actually managed to fall asleep.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" She looked at the girl with the red pyjamas, "I'm too nervous about team placement."

"I'm more worried if I'm going to make the cut" she confessed to the younger girl, "Especially with the little control I have over my aura"

"At least you're not two years younger than everyone here," Red said, and she had to concede the point, "I feel like the kid that just transferred to a class where everyone is already advanced."

"You'll do fine, I think," It couldn't hurt to make friends with everyone she could, "Eleanor Burandt, pleased to meet you"

"Ruby Rose" Red, Ruby, introduced herself back, "When do you think we'll get our teams?"

"I don't know," She sighed, "Soon, I guess"

"Yeah," Silence fell, "Well, I'm going with my sister, good night Eleanor," Ruby started to walk away from her.

"Night, Ruby," Perhaps, if she tried hard enough, she could force sleep to come.

Sleep did come, eventually, and she did not remember whether she dreamt of something or not, but all too soon morning came, and with it, the order to go the locker room, where they would do the required calibrations to their assigned weapons locker. Setting up the link between their locker and their scroll, setting the six digit pass-code, and socializing.

"So, shotgun axes?" Leon asked her, "That must have been hard to work out, but then, I can't really talk, with a tonfa in an SMG"

"How does that work?" She asked, "Isn't the grip of the machine gun at the front?"

"Yes, my uncle ran into a lot of trouble, and we needed way too many prototypes," He pulled out the tonfa, and it did not show any inkling of being a gun, "The front grip goes back and folds into the body, while the back grip becomes the handle of the tonfa, though my trigger finger is my pinky in this mode"

"Mine are simple compared to yours," she spun the blades to their shotgun and their dual axe position, "All I have to do is turn them and I'm done, simple is best"

"Don't say they didn't take you time to perfect," Leon glared at her.

"Yes, three months and two tries," She smirked back, "And they've yet to fail me."

"Okay, fine, yours may be simpler.." he was stopped as the blond boy with motion sickness flew past them.

"Sorry!" they heard Pyrrha call out to him, so they looked over, where the champion stood along with a white themed female.

"So, you two ready for today?" Alexander joined them, his own locker on the other side of the room, "I hear we're going to the forest."

"How did you hear that?" Leon asked him, as she nodded to the question.

"The punk guy over there," Here he nodded at the guy hanging out with a man in bulky armour, "Said he saw Goodwitch heading over to the cliff, and the only thing over there is the forest."

"So you're going on what someone else saw?" Eleanor asked.

He shrugged, "It's way better than going in blind"

"You have a point, what do you think we'll have to do?" she asked.

"Search for something is a given," Leon said, "I wonder what for though."

"Don't care, I hope we get to kill some Grimm though, that would be great," Alexander grinned.

"As long as they aren't big, that's okay with me," She replied, because she really did not want to end up on the bad side of a high level Grimm, like a King Tut, or a Nevermore, or Death Stalker, or a Royal Beowolf, those were far out from her level, and no amount of pride would tell her otherwise.

"Come on, Professor Ozpin wouldn't let us fight something bigger than an Ursa," Leon paused, "Would he?"

"Well, that's going to be our job, so I wager he would," Alexander scratched his neck, "Though in a while, I suppose, since most of us are new to hunting Grimm."

"Most of us?" She asked, curious as to whom had not fought Grimm before.

"The kid that flew past us, he doesn't have a fighters feel," He looked around, "You can tell as well with some others, they way they clutch their weapons is wrong, or inexperienced, I've seen it a lot in my cousins"

"How many cousins are we talking about here?" She asked, curious as to the number of people in his family, "Can't be enough for you to know what to look for in newbies."

"It is, actually, my family is big," He leaned back and did maths on his head, "I think we're fifty, all together, from all ages."

"That is a lot, yes."

"Sometimes I joined when they were training, you pick up stuff watching a teacher correct others"

"Students, please report to the cliff for your initiation, please report to the cliff for your initiation," The loud speaker cut off their conversation, and so they left along with all other first years towards the cliff, where no doubt Ozpin and Goodwitch were already waiting.


	4. Chapter 4

***Beacon cliff***

"You are here because today the teams will be formed," Ozpin and Goodwitch were standing in front of all the Hunter hopefuls, "For this, you will have to cross the Emerald Forest and retrieve a relic, you will be have to use a landing strategy of your own device to land safely, and the first person you make eye contact with will be the person that will become your partner for the rest of your team at beacon."

From then on Eleanor tuned Ozpin out, starting to look out for potential partners. Grant and Alxander were both on the top of the list, as she knew both of them, and knew that they could hold their own against most small Grimm. Next up was Pyrrha, as much as she would dislike to be paired up against her rival (Though she wasn't entirely sure that the other girl saw her as such), she could not deny that the fighter could fend off a middle level Grimm by herself. Ruby or her sister both looked competent, especially Ruby, since she was accepted two years younger than the rest of the trainees, with the exception of Grant, who looked older than the rest, despite being smaller than her.

A sound drew her eyes to her left, where the platform where one of her classmates had been standing had launched him to the air, in the direction of the forest. So that's why they needed to device a landing strategy.

She crouched, idly noticing Alexander doing the same to her right, and as she felt her feet about to leave the platform, she sprung up, adding extra speed to the already high velocity with which she was thrown in the air. She easily overtook Alexander in the first few seconds of flight.

But then she started falling and he didn't. She tried to keep her calm, you can do this, use your aura to stop yourself, she told herself, but she had no control over her aura right now, she thought she would not be able to release enough force to break her speed enough to land safely, without mayor injury.

Okay, calm down first, she thought, focus your energy, and punch down. She did, but nothing happened. A second time, still nothing but frustration. A scream of frustration accompanied the next punch, and she let out what sounded like a cough, but that surprisingly slowed her down.

So, a breakthrough, how nice, never thought she would discover something like that but hey, if it worked, it worked. She took, with great difficulty because of the air resistance, a deep breath, and held it until she broke through the tree tops, releasing a shout that stopped her a few feet from the ground.

Key words, a few feet.

"God dammit" whatever breath she still had in her was knocked out as she hit the ground from five feet back first, so she took very needed break to regain her breath, her stability, and most importantly, her sense of direction.

She saw flashes of fire and explosions above her, and unfortunately, made eye contact with Leon as he did a front flip, a grin on his face and his SMG in its tonfa mode.

Oh great, she had the guy that dissed the simplicity of her shotgun axes.

* * *

***Meanwhile*On the air***

Alexander once had heard of a man, the very first of the eagle faunus family he hailed from. He had found a book, a diary perhaps, telling tales about how he could do stunts that rivalled those of a Nevermore in combat mode, about how even humans marvelled at the grace of the man when he took flight, and the elegance with which he moved on the ground, to be compared with that of kings.

Now the clan was a shade of that. They were still graceful in the air, but their wings had grown heavy, and required months if not years in order not to spring out at any place or time.

Alexander wished they had more pure bird faunus around, to go back to when they were as equaly graceful in land and air, to when they could fly without the need of aura.

Now was not the time for that, now was the time procure a teammate.

He looked around for Eleanor, but he saw her already falling, her eyes closed, too far for him to make a good turn. He twisted his wings, flipping so he was flying on his back, a very difficult thing to do, only three people in the family could do it, counting him. He saw two others starting flight, five behind him in total. Grant and Leon were the closest.

He slowed himself down enough to let Grant catch up, and stayed level with him as the mercenary turned student started his dissent.

He had to dodge a lot of branches, but he managed to watch the other man use his weapon as a way to stop his momentum, the spear buckling but nor breaking as Grant stabbed it in the trees and released it with a spin.

The two landed opposite to each other, backs to one another, "Want to make a team?" they hadn't made eye contact yet.

"There will be rules to follow if we do," They did not turn, they could still find better partners.

"Not pointing out differences is one that applies to both of us," The two would no doubt get on a lot of fights if they did form a team, but hey, didn't all groups fight from time to time?

"And we don't get on each other's way when we're fighting Grimm, can we do that?" Alexander turned and started walking towards Grant.

"It's a deal," The two locked eyes finally, "But I doubt we'll be great friends, midget"

"The feeling is mutual, bird brain"

* * *

***Cliff top***

"Hmm, I never expected those two to form a pair" Ozpin said as he took a sip from his cup, "Both of them have something they yearn for though, so I suppose not totally surprising."

"I think it may be a bad match, Mr Jager's profile says that whenever he visited a town he often strayed from his parent's instructions, while Mr Sherman has not a bad word on his profile"

"Linda, I know exactly what type of people the two of them are, so, what about this new pair, Miss Burandt and Mister Kaynor, any thoughts?

* * *

***Eleanor and Leon***

"No, we're not searching a Nevermore just for the sake of it," Eleanor dragged the boy behind her, keeping him from running off to who knows where.

"Come on, who knows, we might kill it"

"Or we might get killed by it, I said no, we're getting a relic, we're meeting up with everyone, and then we're going back to the school for dinner"

"Oh, how bad could it be, I bet it's not even smart, making a nest this close to the academy"

"If there is even a Nevermore in the forest, which I doubt a lot"

"All the more reason to search for one, what if they're just waiting for the headmaster to let his guard down, and then BAM, one of them starts an assault on the school, when we could have prevented it," It was so extremely far fetched, since Nervermores did not normaly stay on human territory unless there was a high concentration of negative emotions.

"I doubt a school is bad enough for the emotions to beacon a Nevermore"

"It could be," Leon finally allowed himself to walk besides Eleanor, "I know at least a tenth of the students have been indoctrinated against faunus, and some faunus against humans"

"We're not searching a Nevermore, but feel free to kill any Grimm that stops us" she shot an Ursa minor as she said the, the thing trying to get a drop on them.

"And how am I supposed to do that when you shoot them in the face?" she did not answer, instead letting him deal with a huge, dog-like Grimm with white, meter long spikes running down its back and a mask set in a snarling expression, a Hound.

The explosion that went of on its face sent the meat bits flying, but they evaporated soon enough, leaving only a skeleton behind, a very fast Grimm degradation, it was probably not even a year old. It did not stay long enough to make Leon dirty.

"So, we have to get to the temple, I suggest you get moving or I'm leaving you behind," Eleanor said, hacking branches that hung too low.

"Yeah, yeah," the boy looked back to see the skeleton starting to erode, then looked ahead and caught up to his teammate.

* * *

***With Grant and Alexander***

The two both moved very carefully, taking care not to attract the attention of the Grimm that no doubt inhabited the forest around them.

"We're eventually gonna cross one," Alexander whispered, "How do you want to deal with it?"

"I'll hang back," Grant whispered back, "Try to shoot it up, as long as you try to give me openings"

"Sounds like a plan, anything else?"

"Yes, if I tell you to duck or jump, you do it, understood?"

"Yes sir, I'll try to trust you with that."


	5. Chapter 5

***Emerald forest***

The group of twelve ran as fast as they could from the two monsters behind them, for they knew that as soon as one of them tripped in this terrain it would spell death, not something any of them were really keen on before even starting their career as Hunters

Alexander and Ruby both had a very clear advantage over the others, what with their own singularities. Ruby was using her semblance to jump from tree to tree at a honestly impressive speed, a blur to all but the most trained eyes, and making sure to stay within a jumps distance from her teammates.

Alexander was manoeuvring around the trees with his wings, more often than not using the recoil from his carbine to make tighter turns than he normally could, which were already tight, if he said so himself. It also helped that he managed to get the Nevermore or the Night stalker with a bullet from time to tame, not that it did much to stop them.

Perhaps if the bird was closer and smaller he could have taken care of it, as he had the day that Ozpin accepted him as a student, but as it was, it was simply too big, and by proxy too powerful, to be taken care of by simple dust rounds that did not fit in the armour penetrating, or even the explosive category. Perhaps a direct hit from that pink haired girl's hammer could bring the thing down, but it was big enough to have developed even basic intelligence, so he doubted it would come down low enough.

Another person with a seemingly unfair advantage was the blonde, Alex was too busy dodging to actively try to remember her name, but come on, who the hell was good enough with names to remember one when only said once, and even if the face was memorable...

There it was, Yang something Long.

Anyway, she was using those gauntlets of hers to blast the trunks that suddenly popped up in front of her. Granted, a pop up tree was a thing from children books, but it was better than saying that she did not care where she was going and simply shooting things as they decided to cross paths with her.

Alex used one of his sharp turns to look at his partner. Grant looked no worse for wear than when they started running away from the creatures, which he supposed was a testament to his years as a gun for hire. It was impossible not to work as an escort to important packages and not develop stupid levels of stamina after walking alongside them, and sometimes running, for hours on end. He himself could fly for longer than he could run, but his running distance was already impressive, he could do five kilometres without panting, and it would take twenty to leave him breathless at top pace.

Another turn, this he used to get a look at Eleanor.

He would be lying if he said he did not find her attractive, but she was still too uncontrolled for him, she did not know how to properly wield her semblance, which would be a problem if they ended up in a team together, because it would take the most amount of time to train it, most of the semester. Only after that they would be able to start working on team exercises, and by then it would be by the end of the term. Of course, it appeared that she knew her trigger already, if her constant growling at the wood that Yang blasted and the pieces bouncing off of her were any indication.

It was one of those oddities of Aura, the Trigger.

Aura could be unlocked in two ways, through an experience that brought a person close to death, so close that the limiter put in place by the soul on the Aura was destroyed, allowing the person to use their Aura liberally and without limits for a short period of time, in exchange for never being able to control it as well as someone who used the second method. The advantage to this one was that people who unlocked their Aura this way were more powerful, bateries, in a way. That was, if they survived the experience long enough to wake their power.

The second was the most practised, for a good reason, as it allowed the power output of the Aura to grow much like a muscle, and by proxy allowed for much better control, as the person was better aware of what they could do with how much. Alex had had his aura unlocked since his wings were strong enough to glide him around the strong currents around his home, back when he was six, and had since then exercised it until he could reduce his output to that of a civilian. The problem with this method was that it took time for the incantation to be chanted, making it almost impossible to do in battle, and that if the initial output of the woken was higher than that of the chanter, or the other way around, it could cripple the one with the lower capacity if not done with the utmost care.

With the control Eleanor was showing, her output never being enough to attract even more Grim to them, he could safely assume that she was a Woken rather than a Battery, like most of the students at Beacon.

Another sharp turn and he locked eyes with the Cat Faunus, he wasn't entirely sure if everyone else knew that she was one, but he knew, and she knew that he knew. He smirked at her, making a show of flapping his wings again and looking in the direction they were fleeing. Cat or not, she was hiding something other than the fact that she was a Faunus, and he wasn't entirely sure what it was. Now if she was something other than a cat, which would be asking for trouble if they ended up in a team together, he could see himself dating her, what with that dark hair of hers and the mysterious feel.

Back to work though, he focused on the leader of the running formation, the blond boy with the chest plate. His output implied that he had his Aura awoken not that long ago, perhaps even not two hours ago. The poor boy had little control over it, the spikes were all over the place, reacting to all energy around him. But the boy definitely had something going for him, and that was the fact that even without Aura he had made it this far, something someone with no skill or talent could achieve, and he was leaning towards the boy having talent.

Next to the blond was that annoying one, Leon. That boy had a mouth on him, but the skill to back up what he said, so he doubted he would be a liability in any team, but he would not be able to lead either, there simply was too little strategic mind in that head to do that, not that he could say otherwise about himself, he made strategies on the fly rather than preparing traps, and he honestly didn't care about managing teammates. The semblance of the boy however, was something to think on, as well as that weapon he carried. A tonfa, whether alone or as a set, was already dangerous with the kinetic energy it could deliver, and when explosions were added at the right time, then Leon would be a very big help against the Stalker.

Behind them was Pyrrha, a battle goddess if he ever saw one. Trained from young age to fight, she was the very example of what a Huntress should be. Composed in battle, able to lead but not afraid to step back an let someone else do the talking, good looking, and most important of all, able to wield her weapon of choice with incredible ease and to great effect, even when surrounded. He had seen her battles, he knew what she was capable of. Undefeated Champion for three years.

Weiss Schnee was alternating between staring at Pyrrha with admiration and glaring at his wings. He couldn't care less about that, haters gonna hate and all that, and he would be dammed if he allowed himself to be ashamed of what he was by a spoiled princess. Besides, she was probably jealous of his awesome wings.

And last but not least, the pink bomber and the oriental warrior. He hadn't seen them in action yet, and the were not doing anything impressive other than keeping pace with everyone else, but they looked to be calmer than everyone else, hell the girl even looked excited at what they were doing, so if anything, it was probably not anything out of ordinary for them, which was odd.

Oh, would you look at that, the trees were thinning.

He wrapped his wings around himself to pass through the last of the trees spinning, and landed with his carbine ready to fire.

Ruby stopped next to him and took aim at the Nevermore, but as great as her weapon was, from his distance and angle, it would barely hurt the thing. Nevertheless, he let her.

The rest of the group broke through the trees moments later.

Eleanor immediately started looking at what was around them, and if she was honest to herself, it did not look good if they did not get rid of the Nightstalker first.

A fifty meter cliff on the way up, making a ravine as it reached their level, a temple that should have been impossible to build if it was the age it appeared to be was the only way across, and the steps carved onto the cliff face were their only way up if Ozpin didn't show up with an extraction, which was very unlikely, since this was a test, and she very much doubted that Alex would be keen on giving them a ride, one by one until they were all at the top.

The floor started to rumble, reminding her that the 'Stalker wasn't that far away.

What would be a relatively non dangerous way of taking it down? The obvious answer was having a very high calibre weapon start shooting it, but they would need at least a fifty millimetre to start penetrating that thick armour, and it was no doubt agile enough to tank through Nora's grenades.

"HEADS DOWN" she complied as Alexander yelled, thankful that the feathers did not hit her or any of the others.

That brought another problem to light though, they were sitting ducks out here in the open, and the stupid Nevermore had them zeroed in, all it needed was a lucky shot and they would be done for. Fuck.

"ACROSS THE BRIDGE, HURRY," She thought they would be able to get across, and leave the Nightstalker behind, since the bridge did not look sturdy enough to hold the tons of Grimm monster that would try to follow them. They weren't that lucky.

The Nevermore chose that moment to start another feather barrage, hitting the bridge throughout the middle, and no doubt striking important support stones, since it started to collapse around them.

Ruby, Yang, Blake and Schnee managed to get across to the temple, while everyone else was forced to retreat to the other side of the ravine, where the Nightstalker was waiting for them, the stupid thing had probably communicated with the Nevermore somehow. Shit

They needed to get rid of it now.

"The stinger and the pincers are both the thinnest articulations of the thing, I suggest we go for the former," Grant said, taking aim at the point where the golden stinger joined with the black body of the scorpion Grimm.

"Good idea, we use it's venom against it," Eleanor nodded, "Okay, here's the plan, Nora, stay with Grant and wait for the stinger to drop on the Stalker, then you smash it in, Jaune, you and Pyrrha keep the pincers occupied, I don't care how, Alex, you, Leon, Ren, and I are going for the stinger, we got to be quick about this, GO!"

She charged, not waiting to see if the rest was following, she knew that they would follow her plan, as little as a couple of guidelines could count as a plan. A shadow flew above her, Alex would likely try to shot the stinger articulation in order to weaken it, which was exactly what they required. A grunt made her want to look back, she supposed that Pyrrha had already engaged the pincers, Jaune would follow soon.

She was more than a bit surprised when a shot went past her, meaning that Grant had a good enough eye to shoot the Stalker before she could reach the middle of it. A great support type, but the Stalker had moved its tail and the shot instead bounced off of the golden stinger. Great, they really had their job cut out for them. She smashed one of her axes into one of the legs of the scorpion creature, intending to get onto it's back in order to use her newly discovered control over her Aura to force it to smash into the ground, but just as easily as its armour deflected the shots, it made her weapon bounce off as if it was just a rubber axe, rather than the high density alloy she used to build the blades.

She had no time to try again as she had to roll to avoid the legs of the thing trying to smash her, clearly it was focusing on her, even with the blond and red head trying their best at keeping it from turning, she knew it was too strong for the two of them to take care of the pincers by themselves. She jumped away from the monster and watched as Grant used his sniper to daze the thing long enough for Leon to land three good hits with that tonfa of his, the thing was spinning harder than she could keep up with from that distance, but she was pretty sure that it would hit hard.

She took a running start and slid under the Nightstalker, emptying her magazines, which were fairly big at twelve rounds per shotgun, on the underbelly of the scorpion, not that it did much, seeing as the thing was as heavily armoured from under as it was from over, but hey, as long as it did not collapse in her it was alright. It would be a really painful way to die. The good part about her guns though, was that they used a revolving style clip, rather than a chamber one, and so they were way faster to reload.

Coming out from under the Stalker by the point where Leon had been beating the crap put of its leg, she once again emptied her shotguns on the point where its armour had been weakened enough that it showed a crack. This resulted on the thing stumbling as it felt the pain of the tiny dust pellets striking against its fleshy innards hiding underneath the tons of armour.

Alexander used that stumble to take a dive at the stinger, damaging the articulation badly enough that it was hanging off by only the half of the flesh inside it, darkened as it was. Next to do damage to the stinger was Ren, who used Jaune as a springing board to jump on the over side of the scorpion, and then used his reinforced weapons. This left the stinger hanging from a thread, which Grant, showing how great a marksman he was, shot right through, making the golden part of the Stalker come down on it.

"NORA, NOW!" She shouted at the pink haired girl, who first flew up by smashing and detonating her hammer on the head of the beast and then, after doing a pirouette while seating on the handle of her weapon, smashed it down on the fallen stinger, driving it deep into the body of the beast, the poison that could kill many humans in seconds with but a drop granting the Nightstalker a slow and painful death.

Not a nice way to go, even for a soulless abomination made of fear and nightmares.

"Is everybody still okay?" Jaune asked, "Pyrrha, still have both arms? Do I still have both arms?"

"Yes Jaune," The red-head rolled her eyes and giggled, "I think all of us are still complete."

"HEY, UP HERE!" all of them turned to look at the Red Killing Hood.

"HOW ARE WE GONNA GET UP THERE NOW?!" Jaune asked her for them, noticing that all members of Ruby's team were still stranded on the barely standing temple, castle, or whatever the hell it was.

"I could throw you up one by one using my semblance," Alexander offered, "But I don't know how many I could get there before I tired myself out."

Other possibilities included a plank on a rock that stuck out a long ways on both sides, which Nora would smash to propel them into the air, and jumping towards the cliff face, using their weapons to cling to it and then go upwards.

In the end, Alex's offer won out, and after a lot of touch and go moments where he wasn't sure how much everyone weighted and how to compensate for it, but after two hours, they were all on the top of the cliff, Grant and Eleanor helping an exhausted Alexander towards where Ozzpin and Goodwitch were waitng.


End file.
